Electronic completion of cash versus futures basis trades

ABSTRACT

An electronic trading system is described herein. More specifically, the electronic trading system may relate to the substantially simultaneous trading of cash instruments and their related futures contracts for interest-rate related instruments. The electronic trading system may also be used to allow a user (such as a market maker or other suitable participant) to gauge his chance of success at completing both sides of a basis trade within a preferably pre-determined or pre-set interval, while knowing in advance the specific weighting algorithm that will be applied to the basis trade. The electronic trading system may also be used to allow a user to predetermine the exact weighting algorithm to be used on such a basis trade, and to adjust those preferences where necessary or desired.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/063,758 filed Oct. 25, 2013 which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/595,229 filed Aug. 27, 2012 (now U.S. Pat. No.8,571,970 issued on Oct. 29, 2013) which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/940,574, filed Sep. 13, 2004 (now U.S.Pat. No. 8,255,314 issued on Aug. 28, 2012), each of which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to electronic trading systems and methods. Morespecifically, this invention relates to electronic systems and methodsrelating to the substantially simultaneous trading of cash instrumentsand their related futures contracts for interest-rate relatedinstruments.

The following example illustrates a typical futures contract for aninterest-related instrument. The Chicago Board of Trade 10 year futurescontract is of a delivery standard of a nominal 10 year maturity 6%coupon bond, whereby underlying bonds eligible for delivery into a shortposition are of a maturity of 6 to 10 years maturity at the first day ofeach delivery month. Any one of this “basket” of deliverable bonds maybe delivered in satisfaction of the seller's obligation under thecontract. A basis trade is a trade in which a deliverable cash bondtrade is effected at the same time as the equivalent but oppositefutures trade.

One advantage of a basis trade is that it provides a hedged position ina particular instrument—i.e., the basis trade includes two substantiallyopposing positions on similar instruments. The hedged position existsbecause the futures price tends to track the cash price of theunderlying instrument. The hedged nature of the basis trade typicallylimits losses in situations where long term interest rates fluctuaterapidly.

One aspect that makes basis trading of these underlying bonds againstthe futures contract difficult to implement electronically is that thefutures contract and any one of the basket of deliverable bonds may betraded on distinct and different trading systems, which may incorporatedifferent matching algorithms.

Another aspect is the different hedge ratios of cash bond amount versusfutures contract amount that exist for different trading scenarios. Sometraders prefer to weight the nominal amounts of each instrument tradedin a basis trade by buying or selling an amount of cash bond equivalentto the opposing short or long futures trade by a conversion factorweighting that stipulates the cash amount to be the futures amountmultiplied by a Futures Exchange published conversion factor (e.g.,0.9467). Other traders prefer to weight a basis trade according to aduration-based algorithm that matches the different instruments' subtledifferences in market price behavior. Other traders still prefer to viewthe likelihood of one bond being significantly cheaper to deliver into afutures contract short position, and adjust a basis trade hedge ratioaccording to this likelihood, while considering other market factors aswell.

Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system for the electronictrading of futures contracts for interest-rate related instruments,against their equivalent cash securities as a spread or basis tradewhereby both a long or short position in one instrument is tradedsubstantially simultaneously with a short or long position in the otherinstrument.

Two difficult aspects of the basis trade are the entry into and exitfrom each position, respectively. At the entry into the position, twothings must occur—a trade on the underlying instrument and a trade onthe futures. However, from a trader's perspective, it is often difficultif not impossible to make these two trades occur simultaneously. Whereasthis simultaneous execution may be difficult to carry out when tradingwith two different human brokers, the difficulty is amplified in theworld of electronic trading where the execution of intended tradesdepends on the electronic trading system and the trading algorithmresident therein.

Therefore, it would also be desirable to provide electronic tradingsystems and methods that allow a user (or market maker or other suitableparticipant) to gauge his chance of success at completing both sides ofa basis trade within a preferably pre-determined or pre-set interval,while knowing in advance the specific weighting algorithm that will beapplied to the basis trade.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a system for thesimultaneous electronic trading of cash instruments and their relatedfutures contracts for interest-rate related instruments.

It is also an object of this invention to provide electronic tradingsystems and methods that allow a user to predetermine the exactweighting algorithm to be used on such a basis trade, and to adjustthose preferences where necessary or desired.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide electronic tradingsystems and methods that allow a user—e.g., a market maker or othersuitable participant—to gauge his chance of success at completing bothsides of a basis trade within a preferably pre-determined or pre-setinterval.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other advantages of the invention will be apparent uponconsideration of the following detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an electronic implementation of a system inaccordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration, in greater detail, of an electronicimplementation of a system in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an electronic trading interface inaccordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of another electronic trading interface inaccordance with some embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is an illustration of yet another electronic trading interface inaccordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, exemplary system 100 for implementing the presentinvention is shown. As illustrated, system 100 may include one or moreworkstations 101. Workstations 101 may be local or remote, and areconnected by one or more communications links 102 to computer network103 that is linked via communications links 105 to server 104. Server104 is linked via communications link 110 to back office clearing center112.

In system 100, server 104 may be any suitable server, processor,computer, or data processing device, or combination of the same. Server104 and back office clearing center 112 may form part of the electronictrading system. Furthermore, server 104 may also contain an electronictrading system and application programming interface and merely transmita Graphical User Interface or other display screens to the user at theuser workstation.

Computer network 103 may be any suitable computer network including theInternet, an intranet, a wide-area network (WAN), a local-area network(LAN), a wireless network, a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, aframe relay network, an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, avirtual private network (VPN), or any combination of any of the same.Communications links 102 and 105 may be any communications linkssuitable for communicating data between workstations 101 and server 104,such as network links, dial-up links, wireless links, hard-wired links,etc.

Workstations 101 may be personal computers, laptop computers, mainframecomputers, dumb terminals, data displays, Internet browsers, PersonalDigital Assistants (PDAs), two-way pagers, wireless terminals, portabletelephones, etc., or any combination of the same. Workstations 101 maybe used to implement the electronic trading system application andapplication programming interface according to the invention.

Back office clearing center 112 may be any suitable equipment, such as acomputer, a laptop computer, a mainframe computer, etc., or anycombination of the same, for causing transactions to be cleared and/orverifying that transactions are cleared. Communications link 110 may beany communications links suitable for communicating data between server104 and back office clearing center 112, such as network links, dial-uplinks, wireless links, hard-wired links, etc.

The server, the back office clearing center, and one of theworkstations, which are depicted in FIG. 1, are illustrated in moredetail in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 2, workstation 101 may includeprocessor 201, display 202, input device 203, and memory 204, which maybe interconnected. In a preferred embodiment, memory 204 contains astorage device for storing a workstation program for controllingprocessor 201. Memory 204 also preferably contains an electronic tradingsystem application 216 according to the invention.

Electronic trading system application 216 may preferably includeapplication program interface 215, or alternatively, as described above,electronic trading system application 216 may be resident in the memoryof server 104. In this embodiment, the electronic trading system maycontain application program interface 215 as a discrete application fromthe electronic trading system application which also may be includedtherein. The only distribution to the user may then be a Graphical UserInterface which allows the user to interact with electronic tradingsystem application 216 resident at server 104.

Processor 201 uses the workstation program to present on display 202electronic trading system application information relating to marketconditions received through communication link 102 and trading commandsand values transmitted by a user of workstation 101. Furthermore, inputdevice 203 may be used to manually enter commands and values in orderfor these commands and values to be communicated to the electronictrading system.

In one embodiment of this invention, Trade-Through-the-Stack tradingrules (TTS) preferably allow the user to identify and trade pricesoutside the boundaries of the best prices shown by the trading system.Such a trade may not invoke the trading system (or alternatively, thetrading application's) interactive trading rules as will be described inmore detail below. Preferably, price improvement (PI) benefits, whichare described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/171,009, filed onJun. 11, 2002, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety, may also be applicable in some form in TTS trading.

To fully understand the TTS system and method according to theinvention, which are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/890,602, filed on Jul. 13, 2004, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety, it is important to understand an interactivetrading system according to the invention upon which the TTS rules areimplemented. One embodiment of an interactive trading system isdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,580, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

Interactive trading may use a number of trading states to define theability of users to negotiate and trade with one another. Each of thevarious states may be associated with a user interface display screen.Alternatively, all of the various states may be associated with a singledisplay screen that includes various indicators to denote the currentsystem state.

FIG. 3 shows a typical display 300 associated with electronic trading offutures contracts for interest-related instruments. Display 300 shows avolume (and corresponding prices) of bids 310 and offers 320 for theChicago Board of Trade 10-year bond futures. On the left are listed bids310 and on the right are listed offers 320. The price column 330 isshown in the middle. Order type is shown at 640 and may include limitorder 342, market order 344 and stop order 346.

Typically, in conventional trading implemented using display 300,participants enter their respective bids and offers by typing the priceand volume in field 350. Size fields 352 may be used to facilitate orderentry by making preprogrammed size amounts available. Cancel keys 354may be used to facilitate canceling active orders.

FIG. 4 shows a typical analytical screen of deliverable bonds to thefutures contract in FIG. 3.

Associated with each of the bids and offers is a conversion factor 410.The conversion factor, as stated above, represents the value by whichthe exchange settlement price of any selected cash bond delivered into ashort futures position (at futures contract maturity) will be multipliedby, to arrive at a price the futures buyer will be expected to pay forthat bond, in order to satisfy the requirements of the notional bondfutures contract. Various reasons exist, and are known in the art, as towhy a trader may bid or offer for a futures contract while assuming aparticular underlying cash bond is likely to be delivered in the futureto satisfy the trader's obligations under the contract.

To the right of each bond are the conversion factors 410, then theconversion factor weightings 416 (amount of futures per $1 m nominal ofeach bond for a futures conversion factor weighted hedge trade) and thenthe duration weightings 418 (amount of futures per $1 m nominal of eachbond for a futures duration weighted hedge trade) associated with eachbond, assuming that the first bond with the shortest duration is thecheapest to deliver bond for the above mentioned short futures obligatedparticipants.

For example, the trader may choose a particular underlying instrument,and its associated conversion factor, because at the time of entry intothe futures contract, it is the cheapest for a futures short position todeliver into their delivery obligation, and thus there exists alikelihood that at futures maturity said underlying bond could be mosteconomically delivered into the futures obligation. Alternatively, atrader may choose a particular underlying instrument because heanticipates that at the time of delivery of the contract he will have asurplus of this particular instrument at an advantageous price, and/orthat the price of the currently viewed cheapest to deliver instrument islikely to ascend to a relative point where it is no longer cheapest. Inany case, various factors contribute to a particular choice ofinstrument for delivery.

However, as can be seen from the display 400 in FIG. 4, the variousconversions factors 410 for various bonds 412 having a price 414.Conversion factors 410 generally lead to a lack of uniformity, and aconcomitant lack of liquidity in an electronic marketplace for thesimultaneous trading of cash bonds and associated futures contracts.Column 416 shows the conversion factor weighting used to convert thecurrent price into a million dollars of nominal futures contracts. Also,the proprietary nature of futures participant's mathematical modeling ofthe likelihood of delivery of any of the basket of bonds effectivelygives rise to the fact that the last (duration weighting 418) column ofthe table often has different values in it for each participant. Inaddition, these conversion factor numbers are typically fixed by theexchange in advance.

Systems and methods according to the invention solve this problem asfollows. Typically in the display 400 shown in FIG. 4, trades areexecuted by a hit or lift of the bid or offer respectively, that iscurrently being shown. A number of rules that apply to interactivetrading relating to the hit/lift system are described in U.S. Pat. No.6,560,580. While these rules are used herein to illustrate the claimedinvention, nevertheless, the scope of the invention extends beyond theelectronic systems disclosed therein.

Systems and methods according to the invention propose an additionalrule that requires a trader that hits or lifts a futures contract for aninterest-rate related instrument to implicitly agree to at least one ofthe underlying terms—i.e., the hedge ratio proposed for the trade—whenthe trader hits or lifts a displayed bid or offer. In so doing, anyexecuted trades for a futures contract include an agreement on the termsof satisfaction of the contract—i.e., an agreement as to which hedgeratio bond on the trade is to be used to weight how much of theunderlying bond is to be weighted against how many futures contracts.

Using this rule according to the invention, uncertainty is removed fromelectronic trading of futures contracts for interest-relatedinstruments. According to the invention, each basis trade includes, forevery executed trade, an associated hedge ratio which has beenimplicitly agreed to by the action of the aggressive participant uponthe passive resting order. As the trade price is struck at the thencurrent futures price in the open market, the agreed hedge ratio is thatof the passive participant, and the aggressive participant can re-adjusttheir desired hedge ratio with trades in the open markets of theunderlying instruments to the basis trade.

The following exemplary calculations may be used as an introduction toone embodiment of the systems and methods described herein (wherein thecontracts being traded are a 2-year U.S. Treasury Note, a 2Y Futurescontract on the 2-year U.S. Treasury Note, and a 2Y Basis trade is apurchase/sale of the 2-year U.S. Treasury Note and a sale/purchase ofthe 2-year U.S. Treasury Note Futures Contract):

In 2 Y a Bid/Offer exists In 2 Y a Futures Bid/Offer exists

To calculate the basis price:

2Y Basis=2Y Cash−(2Y SEP 04 Futures×Conversion Factor)

2Y Basis=100.116−(105.226×0.9467)

-   -   Cash Price Future Conversion        -   Price Factor

2Y Basis=0.499

Alternatively, the following calculations may be used according to theinvention:

2Y Basis Bid=2Y Cash Bid−(2Y Futures Offer Price×Conversion Factor)

2Y Basis Offer=2Y Cash Offer−(2Y Futures Bid Price×Conversion Factor)

To buy the basis=Buy Cash/Sell Futures

To sell the basis=Sell Cash/Buy Futures

Preferably, a market maker takes the following exemplary steps toprovide a bid in the basis contract (and the opposite steps to providean offer):

If a participant enters a Basis Bid of=11^(1/2)

$\begin{matrix}{11^{1/2} = {{Buy}\mspace{14mu} {Cash}\mspace{14mu} {and}\mspace{14mu} {Sell}\mspace{14mu} {Future} \times {Conversion}\mspace{14mu} {Factor}}} \\{= 11^{1/2}}\end{matrix}$

Once a known price is offered for futures—then the user can make a bidfor the cash instrument on the participant's behalf. Alternatively,using the equation set forth above, a market maker can “make”—provide toother participants—a bid and offer in the basis trade by: 1) determiningthe available price in the cash market 2) using the invention (asdescribed in more detail below) to determine the availability of thefutures contracts and 3) provide a bid and an offer in the basis marketbased on steps 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 shows a display 510 directed to determining the risk associatedwith various steps of the process described above according to theinvention. This embodiment of basis trading relates to the simultaneousexecution of both the cash bond trade and the futures trade on differenttrading systems, in accordance with the users' preferred hedge ratio.This method of basis trading can be used, in one instance, to effect abasis trade in the underlying markets when there is no counter partywilling to take on the opposite side of the basis trade as above.According to this method, a cash bond bid or offer may be placed at alevel that the accompanying and opposing futures trade should be alsoexecutable. If the cash trade was executed, the system willautomatically trade the offsetting futures trade in that market. Becausethese cash and futures trading systems are likely to be on differenttrading systems, a form of risk management is preferred to allow usersto adjust the risk of executing one side only, or partially executingone side, of the desired basis trade while taking on the risk of theother side of the market. This method may also be used in simultaneousarbitrage trading, whereby advantageous execution prices can be sourcedfrom these individual cash and futures trading systems by rapidexecution of matched buy and sell orders. As an example, a future riskmanager may weight the current market conditions associated with thefutures for use in the algorithm and therefore adjusts the price for thebid in cash that the system makes on behalf of the basis bidder.Therefore, once the price/availability of the futures using a futurerisk manager according to the invention is obtained, a user candetermine a cash price based thereon and post a basis spread bid/offer.Systems and methods for completing a trade for multiple instrumentssubstantially simultaneously is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/627,705 filed on Jul. 28, 2000.

A detailed description of FIG. 5 may be used to more fully illustrateparticular aspects of a futures risk management system and methodaccording to the invention. Display 510 includes a list of bids 520 andoffers 530 for futures contracts. Display 510 also shows three boxes,which represent user configurable fields may be used to gauge the chanceof success at completing simultaneously both sides of a basis trade (orother suitable spread trade). Preferably, in one embodiment of theinvention, the system preferably works with a limit order or any othersuitable order type. Otherwise, the system works with market orders. Thechances of successfully completing the trade may be measured withrespect to a preferably pre-determined or pre-set time interval, whichin modern electronic trading systems may typically be measured in a fewhundredths of a second to those skilled in the art. Thus, systems andmethods according to the invention preferably provide auser-configurable risk mechanism for use in performing a basis trade, aspread trade or for other suitable trades.

The invention may be used for the following purpose. A market maker in abasis trade may use the invention to provide a price in the basis tradeas follows.

Risk ticks 540 may be a user-configurable field. Ticks measurevolatility and function as a volatility adjustment parameter. The morevolatile the market, the less orders per tick. In this embodiment, riskticks 540 preferably indicates the level of depth in a market that theuser may be willing to probe for an availability of prices and sizes forcontracts to complete the basis trade. Specifically, a risk tick levelof three, as shown in FIG. 5, may indicate that the trader desires anaverage bid and offer associated with the top three bids (highest dollarvalue) and/or the bottom three offers (lowest dollar value) in order togauge the size and price of the available market for futures contractsfor the five-year treasury note that is due to be delivered in March2004. Risk ticks effectively stipulates how many price levels a userwishes to probe to determine market depth in the calculation algorithmsthat follow.

Risk size 560 may be a user-configurable field as well. In thisembodiment, risk size 560 may define the pre-determined quantity of thederivative instrument for which a user wishes to determine availability.When used in conjunction with the rest of the parameters in the systemsand methods according to the invention, the user can tailor a riskprofile to suit the user's desired trading and market volatilityparameters.

Risk factor 550 may also be a user-configurable field. The risk factoradjusts the risk exposure without sending a larger order up to a linkingmachine which may be configured to post either one or both of the ordersfor trading. More particularly, the risk factor defines an excess amountof the derivative instrument over which availability is tested. Thisgives the linking machine the control of the risk before exposing aposition to the market. (One embodiment of a suitable linking machine orengine is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/627,705 filedJun. 28, 2000 which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.) Thus, risk factor 550 limits the exposure of the user to realmarket risk.

In this embodiment, risk factor 550 preferably indicates a multiple ofone side of the basis trade with respect to the other side of the basistrade. For example, a risk factor of three in this example indicatesthat for the order of one hundred contracts in the cash market (shown in560), a cost/price average—i.e., the average price that is beingdetermined for the selected bids or offers for the instrument that isbeing derived—for three hundred equivalent contracts should be taken inthe futures market to determine the availability of contracts in thefutures market at the required price, or close to the required price, torisk showing a cash price and size for trading in a cash bond tradingsystem, to complete both sides of a basis trade. The higher the riskfactor 550, the less the trader is exposed to risk because theindication that he receives with respect to the available contractsillustrates a wider sampling of the market, and thus a lower riskprofile and concomitantly lower chance of only executing a cash bondtrade without the “balancing” accompanying futures trade. Thus, the riskfactor limits the exposure by increasing the cover without increasingthe order.

It should be noted that if the risk factor requests a measure ofavailability to be determined over a particular number of contracts andthe risk ticks specifies a number of ticks that does not includesufficient volume to satisfy the number of contracts requested by therisk factor, then systems and methods according to the invention mayreject the submitted risk profile because the market is not sufficientlyliquid to support the user's risk profile.

A derived size limit 570 may be a further parameter that the user canadjust in the cash bond market to minimize or increase the desired riskprofile. If the risk ticks 540, risk factor 550 and risk size 560provide a price and size that is at the best price (while taking intoaccount the risk analysis) in the cash market, a limit may be applied asto how much derived size should be shown, to either minimize possiblesudden losses due to extraordinary market movements, or to aggressivelyshow as much derived size as possible to maximize a user's probabilityof execution. This limit may be implemented using derived size limit570.

Finally, if derived size limit 570 is not calculated at a marketableprice reflective of the then best bid or offer in the market—i.e., it isof a worse price than currently displayed on the cash instrumentpreferably in order to protect the user—then the derived size 570 can bepreferably automatically reduced by the system down to an adjustedreduced derived size 580 that enables the algorithm to calculate abetter price that is closer to the then best market bid or offer price,in accordance with the user's settings of risk ticks 540, risk factor550 and risk size 560.

Thus a trader can parameterize the system to use any combination of riskticks, risk factor, risk size, derived size limit and adjusted reducedderived size to form his risk assessment vis-á-vis the selectedcontracts. In one embodiment of the invention, the cost price average ofthe futures size stack for the desired amount multiplied by the riskfactor provides the user with an indication of the availability ofcontracts at the price that the user needs to complete the basis trade.As described above, in one embodiment of the situation according to theinvention, the higher the risk factor, the less risk is involved fromthe side of the trader.

In another embodiment of the invention, the risk factor may beadjustable according to bid/offer tick volatility and/or time ofday—e.g., a risk factor may be configured to be higher between 8:28 a.m.and 8:35 a.m. on days in which economic figures are set to be reported.Preferably, the risk factor can also be manually overridden in real timeby a trader.

In cash trading systems that use a principle of first buyer and firstseller priority workup (as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,580), anembodiment of the system may be implemented to take advantage of anytrading privileges afforded to the user in deciding whether to trademore at a price when executed. If a user at the point of a cash tradeenjoys specific privileged trading rights over further cash sizeproffered in the trading system, the system may trade more futuresfirst—thus reversing the derived order flow—because of the changed riskdynamic associated with an exclusive priority over further cash tradingsize. Rather than bid for or offer more cash size according to thefutures price and size available to the system (as adjusted by thecombination of risk ticks, risk factor, risk size, derived size limitand adjusted reduced derived size), the system can use the exclusivetrading rights to further cash size to execute first a determined amountof futures, and then the cash instrument. The futures amount to trade isdetermined by the available cash size exclusively proffered to theapplication, adjusted either by the risk factor only, or by any of thesuitable feature, as described above. In a certain embodiment of thepriority matching where anti-gaming rules of the cash trading systemdictate the proffered size that is unable to be cancelled, the tradingsystem has thus guaranteed the priority buyer or seller an execution ofthe proffered size. In this embodiment, the risk factor is automaticallyset to a value of one, and the amount of futures thence traded is equalto just the cash amount modified by the user's hedge ratio amount—bethat conversion factor weighted, duration weighted, or weighted by anyproprietary model used as introduced above.

Thus, it will be understood that the foregoing is only illustrative ofthe principles of the invention, and that various modifications can bemade by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope andspirit of the invention, and the present invention is limited only bythe claims that follow.

1-16. (canceled)
 17. An apparatus for facilitating electronic tradingover a computer network with a graphical user interface of aworkstation, the apparatus comprising: a server storage device; and aserver processor connected to the server storage device, the serverstorage device storing a server program for controlling the serverprocessor, the server processor operative with the server program to:receive via a network from an interface of a first trading system bidsand offers on an item; display via the network on a graphical userinterface of a display device of a workstation the bids and offers onthe item to a user of the workstation; display via the network on thedisplay device of the workstation to the user the graphical userinterface that includes at least four fields for the user of theworkstation to specify values corresponding to the four fields, the fourfields defining a risk profile, the four fields including a risk sizethat defines a pre-determined quantity of a derivative instrument, thederivative instrument being based on the item, a risk factor thatdefines an excess amount of the derivative instrument over which anavailability of the derivative instrument is tested, a risk tick thatdefines a threshold number of ticks from a best available bid/offer forthe derivative instrument, and a derived size limit to adjust the riskprofile; responsive to the user of the workstation entering on an inputdevice of the graphical user interface the values for the four fields,receive via the network from the workstation a risk size value, a riskfactor value, a risk tick value, and a derived size limit value; receivefrom an interface of a second trading system bids and offers on thederivative instrument, wherein the second trading system is differentfrom the first trading system; display via the network on the displaydevice of the workstation to the user within the graphical userinterface one or more of the bids and offers on the derivativeinstrument to the user of the workstation; determine a measure ofavailability of a pre-determined quantity of the derivative instrumentas defined by the risk size value, wherein the measure of availabilityis based on the bids and offers for the derivative instrument, the riskfactor value, and the risk tick value that further tests whether therisk size value plus the excess amount as defined by the risk factorvalue is obtainable within the threshold number of ticks from the bestavailable bid/offer for the derivative instrument as defined by the risktick value; automatically communicate over the network an update to thegraphical user interface of the display device of the workstation todisplay an update to the derived size value to a reduced size value toenable calculation of a better price that is closer to a market bid oroffer, based on whether the risk tick value, risk factor value and risksize provide a price and size that is a best price in the market;communicate an order to the interface of the first trading system forthe item; determine that the order communicated to the first tradingsystem was executed; and based on determining that the ordercommunicated to the first trading system was executed, execute an orderon the second trading system for the derivative instrument.
 18. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein a size of the order communicated to thefirst trading system is based on the risk size value.
 19. The system ofclaim 17, wherein the server processor is further operative with theserver program to determine that the number of ticks from the bestavailable bid/offer for the derivative instrument as defined by the risktick value does not include sufficient volume to satisfy thepre-determined quantity of the derivative instrument as defined by therisk size value; and based on the determination, reject the risk profilereceived from the user.
 20. A method performed by a server forfacilitating electronic trading over a computer network with a graphicaluser interface of a workstation, the server comprising: a server storagedevice storing a server program, and a server processor connected to theserver storage device, the server program for controlling the serverprocessor to perform the method, the method comprising: receiving froman interface of a first trading system bids and offers on an item;displaying via a computer network on a graphical user interface of adisplay device of a workstation the bids and offers on the item to auser of the workstation; displaying via the computer network on thedisplay device of the workstation to the user the graphical userinterface that includes at least four fields for the user of theworkstation to specify values corresponding to the four fields, the fourfields defining a risk profile, the four fields including a risk sizethat defines a pre-determined quantity of a derivative instrument, thederivative instrument being based on the item, a risk factor thatdefines an excess amount of the derivative instrument over which anavailability of the derivative instrument is tested, a risk tick thatdefines a threshold number of ticks from a best available bid/offer forthe derivative instrument, and a derived size limit to adjust the riskprofile; responsive to the user of the workstation entering on an inputdevice of the graphical user interface the values for the four fields,receive via the network from the workstation a risk size value, a riskfactor value, a risk tick value, and a derived size limit value;receiving from a second trading system bids and offers on the derivativeinstrument, wherein the second trading system is different from thefirst trading system; displaying via the computer network on the displaydevice of the workstation to the user within the graphical userinterface one or more of the bids and offers on the derivativeinstrument to the user of the workstation; determining a measure ofavailability of a pre-determined quantity of the derivative instrumentas defined by the risk size value, wherein the measure of availabilityis based on the bids and offers for the derivative instrument, the riskfactor value, and the risk tick value that further tests whether therisk size value plus the excess amount as defined by the risk factorvalue is obtainable within the threshold number of ticks from the bestavailable bid/offer for the derivative instrument as defined by the risktick value; automatically communicating over the network an update tothe graphical user interface of the display device of the workstation todisplay an update to the derived size value to a reduced size value toenable calculation of a better price that is closer to a market bid oroffer, based on whether the risk tick value, risk factor value and risksize provide a price and size that is a best price in the market;communicating an order to the interface of the first trading system forthe item; determining that the order communicated to the first tradingsystem was executed; and based on determining that the ordercommunicated to the first trading system was executed, executing anorder on the second trading system for the derivative instrument. 21.The method of claim 20, wherein a size of the order communicated to thefirst trading system is based on the risk size value.
 22. The method ofclaim 20, further comprising: determining that the number of ticks fromthe best available bid/offer for the derivative instrument as defined bythe risk tick value does not include sufficient volume to satisfy thepre-determined quantity of the derivative instrument as defined by therisk size value; and based on the determination, rejecting the riskprofile received from the user.
 23. A non-transitory computer readablemedium comprising a program for facilitating electronic trading over acomputer network with a graphical user interface of a workstation, theprogram that when executed by a processor causes the processor to:receive from a first trading system bids and offers on an item; displayvia a computer network on a graphical user interface of a display deviceof a workstation the bids and offers on the item to a user of theworkstation; display via the computer network on the display device ofthe workstation to the user a graphical user interface that includes atleast four fields for the user of the workstation to specify valuescorresponding to the four fields, the four fields defining a riskprofile, the four fields including a risk size that defines apre-determined quantity of a derivative instrument, the derivativeinstrument being based on the item, a risk factor that defines an excessamount of the derivative instrument over which an availability of thederivative instrument is tested, a risk tick that defines a thresholdnumber of ticks from a best available bid/offer for the derivativeinstrument, and a derived size limit to adjust the risk profile;responsive to the user of the workstation entering on an input device ofthe graphical user interface the values for the four fields, receive viathe network from the workstation a risk size value, a risk factor value,a risk tick value, and a derived size limit value; receive from aninterface of a second trading system bids and offers on the derivativeinstrument, wherein the second trading system is different from thefirst trading system; display via the computer network on the displaydevice of the workstation to the user within the graphical userinterface one or more of the bids and offers on the derivativeinstrument to the user of the workstation; determine a measure ofavailability of a pre-determined quantity of the derivative instrumentas defined by the risk size value, wherein the measure of availabilityis based on the bids and offers for the derivative instrument, the riskfactor value, and the risk tick value that further tests whether therisk size value plus the excess amount as defined by the risk factorvalue is obtainable within the threshold number of ticks from the bestavailable bid/offer for the derivative instrument as defined by the risktick value; automatically communicate over the network an update to thegraphical user interface of the display device of the workstation todisplay an update to the derived size value to a reduced size value toenable calculation of a better price that is closer to a market bid oroffer, based on whether the risk tick value, risk factor value and risksize provide a price and size that is a best price in the market;communicate an order to the first trading system for the item; determinethat the order communicated to the first trading system was executed;and based on determining that the order communicated to the firsttrading system was executed, execute an order on the second tradingsystem for the derivative instrument.
 24. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 23, wherein a size of the order communicated tothe first trading system is based on the risk size value.
 25. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein theprocessor is further operative to: determine that the number of ticksfrom the best available bid/offer for the derivative instrument asdefined by the risk tick value does not include sufficient volume tosatisfy the pre-determined quantity of the derivative instrument asdefined by the risk size value; and based on the determination, rejectthe risk profile received from the user.